Playbill.com: Almost from its inception in 1913, Actors' Equity Association was ahead of the nation on the issue of race. Black actors were actors, in the union's view, and black theatregoers were theatregoers. Equity came to life in the Jim Crow era, when theatre and hotels were often segregated or barred blacks altogether, and many producers — eyes on the bottom line — couldn't bring themselves to cast black actors in roles other than butlers, maids and field hands. Equity was lonely in its principles.
2 comments:
Reading something like this truly gives me joy to be in the industry that I am in. I think the union broke down racial equality into simpler terms, like a common denominator, that common denominator being that an actor is an actor and at the end of the day, that actor needs a place to stay and a place to work. If more people had thought of African Americans in these terms, racial integration would have been alot smoother. I also like the fact that not only did the Union fight to get African Americans equal rights but better roles as well. It shows they were truly committed to what they were fighting for.
I believe that the arts must be used to refine human society as a whole, urging it to grow and develop higher morals. This article illustrated this idea very well, with a theatrical union fighting for civil rights against society's habits and prejudices. The innovative thoughts demonstrated by the Union's 1947 desegregation campaign are the type of action that the arts should encourage and lead forward.
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